1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for controlling a portable audio device, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling a portable audio device in a power-saving mode, by using a wireless headset or earphones.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable audio devices such as MP3 players, CD players, portable media players (PMP), and digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) players are widely used and becoming increasingly popular. In terms of mobility and portability of portable audio devices, it is important to have a reliable and efficient power management system (PMS) to supply power to the portable audio devices. The PMS relies on a power management unit (PMU) technique which uses a central processing unit (CPU), and implements a low-power design by preventing the power from being transmitted to most of the components in the device, including the CPU, when the device is not being used to reproduce audio files, for example, when the device is in a sleep mode.
However, even when the device is not being used to reproduce audio files, power is supplied to certain components which consume small amounts of power and are essential to restart the system, or should otherwise not be turned off for various reasons. Examples of these components include a real-time clock (RTC) and a microcomputer (MICOM).
Recently, users have begun using wireless headsets with these portable audio devices. In order to listen to music stored on a portable audio device with a wireless headset or earphones when the portable audio device is in the low-power state described above, power is initialized when the wireless headset or earphones are turned on by a user, and a modem is operated for an inquiry scan or a page scan. Then, the portable audio device has to be restarted manually, the modem of the portable audio device is operated, the wireless channels in which the wireless headset or earphones communicate with the portable audio device are found and selected by the modem, and a song is selected using a user interface.
However, this conventional process takes an unnecessary amount of work. Since this process is too laborious, a more convenient process is desirable. Specifically, a process which allows the user to initialize an audio device without manually restarting the main body of the audio device is desirable, so that the user can reproduce and listen to music more easily.